Making the corner store a thing of the past

Bodega sets up five-foot-wide pantry boxes filled with non-perishable items you might pick up at a convenience store. An app will allow you to unlock the box and cameras powered with computer vision will register what you’ve picked up, automatically charging your credit card. The entire process happens without a person actually manning the “store.”

Discussion

The concept itself isn't new – it's essentially a modern day vending machine – but Bodega is getting a ton of heat this morning, largely because of the name itself. From the FastCo article:
"...replacing that beloved institution seems explicit in the very name of McDonald’s venture, a Spanish term synonymous with the tiny stores that dot urban landscapes and are commonly run by people originally from Latin America or Asia. Some might bristle at the idea of a Silicon Valley executive appropriating the term “bodega” for a project that could well put lots of immigrants out of work."

So like, how many POC do you have to hate being around for you to basically make a glorified vending machine?
I like tech as much as the next person, but if your main business concern is helping wealthy white people fence themselves off from the people whose neighborhood they're gentrifying, then I seriously question the moral motivations of the tech industry and its aspirations for making our lives better and easier.

When tech wants to gentrify your bodegas, I think TF not. There's no algorithm or bleeding edge technology that could replace the human interaction/experience of stepping into a Bodega. One of the founders has never lived in NYC -__-